The Portland daily press., 1887-03-17
SWEEPING CONDEMNATION.
The Engineering News on the Disas.
ter at Forest Hill.

NEW YORK, Marh 16.-The Engineering
New having thoroughly investigated the
cause of the Forest Hill disaster on the Bos-
ton and Providence railroad will publish the
following in regard to it In this weeks
issue: "The cause of this dreadful catas-
taophy has been very obscure in the news
paper accounts, the only certain thing hav-
ing been that the bridge was sort of patch
work non-descript which violated several of
the most important and fundamental require
ments of good bridge designing. We are
now fortunately able to shed far more light
on what the precise cause was than has
heretofore appeared, or than is at all likely
to appear from any other source, even in the
official investigation, from the fact that we
have now in our office what will probably be
the most important bit of evidence in that
investigation. viz the two original parts
which, in all human probability were the
first TO break. These parts are in possession
of Mr.. Henry 5. Pritchard, G. E., practical
bridge engineer of Philadelphia, who under
took critically to examine the structure on
behalf of this journal, and who went about
1t apparently a little more systematically
than those who had preceded him. In con-
nection with further information gathered
for us within an hour or two after the acci-
dent occurred. by Frederick Brooks, c. E. of
absolutely conclusive as to the real difficulty
since it is impossible there should have been
more defective parts in the bridge if it was
Is stand up at all. The parts which first
broke were two hangers which carried the
last or most easterly pair of floor beams of
the northerly or last built truss, the truss
which carried all the load. So far as can be
Judged from the outside appearances they
are made of far from good iron to begin
with, but in addition to that they are of very
ha6 nd ipata arfa
addition to that again. they are both of them
very badly flawed, by old and deeply rusted
breaks at the most strained section there be-
ing two distinct breaks of this kink to each
specimen.
The first hanger has both breaks across the
weld, the first break being complete and the
second break, an inch and eighth above it,
all but complete. the metal merely hanging
together by. the outside skin. This hanger
can never have done any work since its
original and now ancient fracture, or ii
would have broken apart long since. The
second hanger was checked across halt of its
inside face covered by the supposed weld
for about half its depth of effective section
and this was already where the fracture
first began. 1t caused secondary fracture
at a second old break in the hook of the
welded end which cut off somewhat larger
proportion Of the effective strength of the
iron. All this Is clearly shown in the ell
cravings of the bridge and its broken parts
which appear In this Issue, and the general
judgment of engineers will bear us out in
saying that more shamefully bad speci-
men of bridge designs, the metal and work
manship can hardly exist We regret to
have to express so sweeping condemnation
Of the structure, but the facts more than
justify it, and it is but right in an occurrence
of this kind the truth should be pointed out,
and made clear without fear or favor. 1t is
appalling TO think Of the tens of thousands
of lives which hare literally hung by a
thread in passing over this bridge during the
past eleven years"